“…then hold on.”
The Alpha did not move.
Neither did Iskander.
The shield trembled in front of him.
So did his arm.
Daniel looked around.
A canid on the left.
Another behind.
Two among the trees.
Another higher up, on the slope.
The Alpha on the other side of the stream bed.
There was no way out.
Vega slowly raised a hand.
“Nobody breaks formation.”
Xenya tightened her grip on the daggers.
Electricity ran along her forearms.
“That was my plan.”
“I wasn’t only talking to you.”
“But a little bit.”
“A little bit.”
Serrano let out a breath from the stretcher.
“Vega.”
She looked at him.
“Five visible.”
Alyra shook her head.
“Five that we can see.”
Vega nodded.
“Correct.”
Serrano raised his A.R.E.
A weak flame ran along the weapon.
“I’ll cover the rear.”
Vega looked at his leg.
“From there.”
“I wasn’t planning on running.”
“I’m glad we’re finally learning something.”
Serrano smiled.
“Joint command.”
“When you can’t fire any more, I’m in charge.”
“How convenient.”
“Very.”
Daniel watched them.
They were still making jokes.
Both of them.
Even though Serrano could barely stand.
Even though Vega was breathing too fast.
Even though they were surrounded.
Vega turned towards them.
Her expression changed.
“Listen to me.”
Everyone fell silent.
“Serrano and I are still in command of this outing.”
She looked at each of them.
“As long as we can give orders, you follow them.”
Xenya was about to speak.
Vega raised a finger.
“Especially you.”
Xenya closed her mouth.
“All right.”
Vega looked at Iskander.
“You don’t have to stop them.”
Iskander did not lower the shield.
“Glad to hear it.”
“Just keep them from reaching the centre.”
“That sounds fairly similar.”
“Then do something fairly similar.”
Alyra took her place behind him.
Water around her hands.
Melisa beside the injured.
Daniel brought both A.R.E. forward.
Xenya lowered her body.
Serrano took aim.
Vega breathed.
“When they come in…”
The Alpha raised her head.
The canids moved.
“…now.”
The first came in from the right.
Xenya vanished from her position.
No.
Daniel corrected what he had just seen.
She had not vanished.
She was fast.
Too fast.
A line of electricity crossed the stream bed.
The first dagger struck.
The second discharged.
The canid spun in the air.
“Come back!” Vega shouted.
Xenya was already returning.
Another animal came in from the left.
“Alyra!”
Water.
Not much.
A narrow strip over the stone.
The canid stepped on it.
Slipped.
“Iskander!”
Shield.
Impact.
Iskander grunted.
He did not fall.
Daniel came in from the side.
One blade against the animal’s shoulder.
The other beneath its neck.
He did not drive it deep.
He had no time.
“Out!”
Daniel backed away.
Ignis passed in front of him.
Serrano’s burst of flame forced the canid aside.
“Thanks!”
“Later!”
A third came down the slope.
Vega turned.
Aeris.
The air struck the animal before it touched the ground.
Its trajectory changed.
It fell against the stream bed.
Xenya wanted to go in.
“No!” Vega shouted.
Xenya stopped.
A second canid appeared exactly where her run would have ended.
Xenya saw it.
Silence.
“All right.”
Vega did not look at her.
“You’re welcome.”
The two animals backed away.
They did not flee.
They circled them again.
Daniel breathed.
One.
Two.
Three.
The Alpha was still motionless.
Watching.
“She isn’t coming in,” Melisa said.
Daniel heard her behind him.
So did Vega.
“I know.”
Melisa had one hand on the technician’s shoulder and the other beside the neck of one of the injured.
“The others are.”
Alyra looked at the Alpha.
“She’s watching.”
Xenya turned a dagger.
“Then let her watch.”
Iskander let out a breath.
“I’d rather she helped a bit less.”
Daniel looked at him.
“How are you?”
“Stop asking me that.”
“Then stop looking as though you’re about to fall over.”
“Deal.”
Iskander took half a step.
His leg gave way.
Just for an instant.
Alyra caught him by the back.
“Very convincing.”
“That didn’t count.”
“It counted.”
Vega looked towards the stream bed.
“Switch.”
Iskander frowned.
“What?”
“Daniel in front.”
“No.”
“That wasn’t a vote.”
Iskander looked at her.
Vega pointed at his arm.
“If you keep taking impacts, in five minutes you won’t have a useful arm left.”
“I can hold on.”
“I know.”
Vega came half a step closer.
“That’s why you’re still here.”
Iskander tightened his jaw.
At last he backed away.
Daniel took over part of his position.
Iskander stood slightly behind.
“If they eat you,” Iskander said, “I want it on record that I objected.”
Daniel raised both blades.
“Noted.”
The next attack did not come from the front.
It came from above.
“DANIEL!”
Xenya.
Daniel raised the A.R.E.
Too late.
The canid’s weight came down on him.
The two crossed blades stopped its jaws.
Daniel fell to his knees.
Teeth.
Saliva.
Eyes.
He pushed.
Nothing.
The animal was too heavy.
A discharge passed through its flank.
The canid was flung away.
Daniel fell backwards.
Xenya appeared beside him.
“In one piece?”
“I think.”
“Bad time for ‘I think’.”
“I’m learning.”
Xenya held out a hand.
Daniel took it.
He stood up.
“Thanks.”
“Later.”
Melisa heard them.
“That’s mine.”
Xenya smiled.
“Not any more.”
Another attack.
There was no time.
Alyra used the water.
Less and less.
She no longer raised masses of it.
She did not need them.
A paw.
A stone.
A root.
A foothold.
A canid jumped.
Alyra barely moved two fingers.
The water struck its hind paw.
Three centimetres.
That was enough.
The animal landed badly.
Iskander went in with the shield.
Impact.
Daniel struck from the other side.
Xenya waited.
“Now!” Alyra shouted.
Electricity.
The canid backed away.
Alyra lowered her hand.
She was breathing through her mouth.
Daniel looked at her.
“All right?”
“No.”
A pause.
“But I can still do it.”
Daniel nodded.
He asked nothing more.
The Alpha advanced.
A single step.
The other canids stopped.
Daniel saw it.
So did Xenya.
“Vega.”
“I know.”
The Alpha came down into the stream bed.
Iskander raised the shield.
Vega stretched an arm out in front of him.
“No.”
“No what?”
“You’re not taking that hit.”
Iskander looked at the Alpha.
“Someone will have to.”
“No.”
Vega brought her A.R.E. forward.
Aeris began to circle her.
Leaves.
Dust.
Surface water.
Xenya looked at the current.
“That’s quite a lot.”
Vega did not answer.
The Alpha accelerated.
Aeris burst out.
The entire stream bed seemed to breathe.
The current struck the Alpha head-on.
The animal stopped.
Her paws sank into the mud.
Vega gritted her teeth.
More.
The Alpha moved back half a metre.
Xenya’s eyes widened.
Serrano smiled from the stretcher.
“Show-off.”
Vega could not answer.
The Alpha dug her paws in.
Advanced.
Against the wind.
One step.
Vega increased the pressure.
Blood appeared at her nose.
“Vega!” Melisa shouted.
“I’m fine.”
The Alpha took another step.
And jumped.
Vega changed the current.
The trajectory shifted.
Not enough.
The Alpha passed beside her.
A claw struck.
Vega was flung away.
“VEGA!”
She fell against the rocky side of the stream bed.
A dull sound.
Her body hit the ground.
Aeris disappeared.
Xenya was the first to move.
“Vega!”
The Alpha landed.
Daniel stepped between them.
Two blades.
The Alpha looked at him.
She did not attack.
Yet.
Melisa reached Vega.
“Don’t move.”
Vega tried to sit up.
Pain doubled her over.
“Shit.”
Melisa ran her hands over her side.
Vega pushed one away.
“The others.”
“Shut up.”
“Melisa.”
“I said shut up.”
Vega breathed.
Pain.
Melisa touched the ribs.
Vega closed her eyes.
“There.”
“I know.”
Melisa moved down towards the leg.
The knee was in an odd position.
Not obviously broken.
But swollen.
Vega tried to put weight on it.
She could not.
“No.”
Vega looked towards the fight.
“I need to get up.”
“You’re not going to.”
“I’m in command.”
“You can command from the ground.”
Serrano gave a pained laugh from the stretcher.
“Welcome.”
Vega glared at him.
“Not a word.”
“Joint command.”
Melisa looked at them both.
“You’re both unbearable.”
Another growl.
Vega immediately looked at the group.
Her voice changed.
“Xenya, right flank. Alyra with Iskander. Daniel, centre.”
Everyone reacted.
Without asking.
Vega could not fight.
She was still in command.
The Alpha was watching Daniel.
He noticed.
He did not know why.
He moved to the right.
Her eyes followed him.
To the left.
The same.
Xenya saw it too.
“Dani.”
“Yes.”
“She’s watching you.”
“I know.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Neither do I.”
The Alpha advanced.
Daniel raised both blades.
Iskander took his place beside him.
“You’re not going alone.”
Vega shouted from behind.
“Nobody goes in on the Alpha without my order!”
Iskander looked at Daniel.
“That answers quite a lot.”
The Alpha accelerated.
“Daniel, back!” Vega ordered.
Daniel backed away.
The Alpha changed direction.
She did not go for him.
She turned towards Iskander.
“Iskander!”
Shield.
Impact.
Iskander was flung away.
The shield fell.
Alyra ran towards him.
“Iskander!”
The canid on the left came in.
Xenya intercepted it.
Electricity.
Another on the right.
Serrano fired.
Ignis.
The flame appeared.
Weak.
The canid stopped.
Serrano tried again.
Nothing.
“Come on…”
A spark.
Nothing more.
Serrano looked at the A.R.E.
“Fuck.”
Vega saw him.
“Don’t force it.”
“I can get another one out.”
“No.”
“Vega.”
“I said no.”
Serrano gritted his teeth.
Lowered the weapon.
Alyra was beside Iskander.
“Look at me.”
He opened his eyes.
“I am.”
“Where does it hurt?”
“Yes.”
Alyra let out a breath.
“Idiot.”
Iskander tried to get up.
He could not.
“Wait.”
“No.”
“Iskander.”
“The shield.”
Alyra looked.
It was several metres away.
“Leave it.”
“Alyra.”
“Leave it.”
He tried to get up again.
His arm gave way.
He fell.
This time he made no joke.
Alyra saw it.
“You’ve held on.”
Iskander breathed hard.
“Still…”
“You’ve held on.”
He closed his eyes.
Just for a second.
Then nodded.
Daniel blocked.
The Alpha struck one of the A.R.E.
The impact ran through his whole arm.
Daniel lost sensation in two fingers.
He backed away.
The Alpha did not continue.
She watched him.
Daniel breathed.
Raised the blades again.
The Alpha tilted her head slightly.
Daniel took a step.
So did she.
Xenya appeared on the left.
The Alpha turned immediately.
“Xenya, no!” Vega shouted.
Too late.
Xenya went in.
First dagger.
The Alpha dodged.
Second.
Electricity.
The Alpha was no longer there.
Xenya’s eyes widened.
A paw appeared along her exit path.
“XENYA!”
Xenya tried to change direction.
There was no room.
Daniel went in.
An A.R.E. intercepted the claw.
Impact.
The blow went through his shoulder.
Xenya rolled across the ground.
Daniel fell to his knees.
The Alpha struck again.
Daniel crossed the two blades.
The impact threw him backwards.
Xenya stood up.
Blood on her lip.
“Daniel!”
He was already getting up.
“I’m still going.”
Xenya looked at him.
“Liar.”
The Alpha watched them.
Xenya charged electricity.
Vega shouted:
“Back!”
Xenya obeyed.
So did Daniel.
The Alpha did not chase them.
She only watched.
“She’s learning again,” Alyra said.
She was on her knees beside Iskander.
Vega was struggling to breathe.
“Yes.”
Alyra looked at Xenya.
“Your exit.”
Xenya needed no explanation.
“She was waiting for it.”
“Yes.”
Xenya tightened her grip on the daggers.
“Then I won’t give it to her again.”
The Alpha began to walk.
Daniel watched her paws.
Her breathing.
Her shoulders.
He did not know what he was looking for.
He only knew he needed to find something.
Melisa appeared beside him.
“Daniel.”
“What?”
“Your arm.”
He looked.
The left one was trembling.
“It’s fine.”
“No.”
“It still moves.”
“That doesn’t mean it’s fine.”
Daniel looked at the Alpha again.
“It’ll do.”
Melisa opened her mouth.
Stopped.
She had heard that phrase before.
Daniel barely smiled.
“Later.”
Melisa looked at him.
“I hate it when you do that.”
The next attack was simultaneous.
Three canids.
Not the Alpha.
Xenya intercepted one.
Alyra used the water against another.
Daniel went in on the third.
Iskander tried to get up.
He could not.
Vega gave orders from the ground.
“Xenya, don’t chase!”
Discharge.
“Alyra, right!”
Water.
“Daniel, back to the centre!”
Daniel backed away.
A canid broke through.
Straight towards the injured.
Melisa saw it.
“Serrano!”
Serrano raised the A.R.E.
Nothing.
“Shit!”
Daniel was too far away.
Xenya turned.
Another canid blocked her.
Alyra stretched out both hands.
The water responded.
Very little.
It did not reach.
Vega braced a hand against the ground.
“Come on…”
Aeris.
A small gust.
The canid lost half a step.
Vega cried out in pain.
But half a step was enough.
Daniel reached it.
Two blades.
One blocked the jaws.
The other struck from the side.
The canid turned.
Daniel fell with it.
They rolled.
A claw tore open his uniform.
Daniel planted his foot against the animal’s belly.
Pushed.
Xenya appeared.
Electricity.
The canid moved away.
Daniel lay on his back.
Breathing.
Melisa reached him.
“Did it cut you?”
Daniel looked at his torso.
Torn fabric.
Surface blood.
“Not much.”
“I decide that.”
“Melisa.”
“What?”
Daniel pointed ahead.
The Alpha was approaching.
Melisa froze.
“Oh.”
Daniel stood up.
The Alpha crossed the stream bed.
This time nobody attacked first.
Vega raised her voice.
“Fall back.”
Daniel did not.
“Daniel.”
He looked behind him.
Iskander on the ground.
Alyra beside him.
Serrano unable to stand.
Vega with one leg out of action and a hand over her ribs.
Melisa with the injured.
Xenya struggling to breathe.
Daniel looked at the Alpha again.
“Daniel,” Vega repeated.
“If I fall back, she reaches you.”
“You don’t know what she’ll do.”
“No.”
The Alpha advanced.
Daniel raised the A.R.E.
“But I know where I am.”
Vega looked at him.
So did Serrano.
Daniel took a step forward.
The Alpha charged.
Daniel turned.
First claw.
He dodged.
Second.
Blocked.
The impact almost tore the A.R.E. from his hand.
Daniel responded.
A lateral cut.
The blade grazed the Alpha’s flank.
For the first time:
blood.
Xenya’s eyes widened.
“He hit her.”
The Alpha backed away.
So did Daniel.
Both breathed.
The Alpha looked at her flank.
Then at Daniel.
Daniel raised the blades.
The Alpha came in.
Daniel feinted to the right.
Changed direction.
One blade towards the neck.
The Alpha ducked.
Daniel used the second.
A blow.
Not deep.
But it connected.
The Alpha spun violently.
Her tail and body struck Daniel.
Daniel was thrown to one side.
Fell.
Rolled.
Stood up.
“Daniel, out!” Vega ordered.
Daniel backed away.
The Alpha did not let him.
Claw.
Daniel blocked.
Another.
Dodged.
Jaws.
Backed away.
A stone behind him.
Daniel tripped.
The Alpha jumped.
Daniel rolled.
The jaws struck where his head had been.
Daniel drove an A.R.E. into the ground.
Pushed himself up.
The second blade ran along the animal’s flank.
Another wound.
Small.
The Alpha turned.
Daniel was already moving away.
Xenya was watching him.
Not because of speed.
Daniel was not fast.
He was surviving.
By centimetres.
“She’s angry,” Iskander said from the ground.
Alyra looked at him.
“How do you know?”
“Because I would be too.”
Alyra almost smiled.
She did not quite manage it.
The Alpha attacked again.
Daniel stopped repeating movements.
Whenever he did something twice, the Alpha was already there.
So he changed.
One blade.
Retreat.
Two.
Feint.
Knee.
Stone.
Stream bed.
He used everything.
He was not fighting beautifully.
He was fighting to keep breathing.
The Alpha attacked low.
Daniel jumped backwards.
The claw grazed his leg.
Blood.
Daniel fell onto one knee.
Stood up.
The Alpha came in.
Daniel swung a blade.
Not to hit.
The Alpha moved her head aside.
Daniel used that instant to come in from the other side.
A blow.
The blade found flesh.
The Alpha roared.
Daniel withdrew the weapon.
Too slowly.
The paw struck his chest.
Daniel was flung away.
He fell against the stream bed.
One of the A.R.E. slipped from his hand.
Water.
Mud.
Blood.
“DANIEL!”
Xenya advanced.
“NO!” Vega shouted.
Xenya stopped.
“She’s going to kill him!”
“If you go in alone, she catches you on the way out.”
“I DON’T CARE!”
“I DO!”
Xenya turned.
Vega was on the ground.
Pale.
In pain.
But her eyes were still the same.
“That’s an order.”
Xenya was trembling.
Electricity around her arms.
She looked at Daniel.
Then at Vega.
She did not advance.
Daniel found the A.R.E. he still had.
One.
The Alpha was approaching.
Daniel tried to get up.
His left arm did not respond properly.
He helped himself with the right.
Standing.
The Alpha stopped.
Daniel raised the only blade.
The Alpha charged.
Daniel blocked.
The A.R.E. struck the claw.
His left arm gave way.
Pain.
Something shifted in his shoulder.
Daniel screamed.
The blade fell.
The Alpha struck with her body.
Daniel was flung away.
His back hit the ground.
He tried to breathe.
He could not.
The Alpha reached him.
Daniel rolled.
A claw came down beside his head.
Earth.
Stones.
Daniel struck with his forearm.
Useless.
The Alpha opened her jaws.
Daniel found a stone.
Struck her muzzle.
Once.
The Alpha barely backed away.
Daniel crawled.
He had no A.R.E.
He had no Ether.
He had nothing between the Alpha and him.
The Alpha came back.
Daniel raised his right arm.
The claw came down.
Daniel moved his head.
Too late.
Pain.
Hot.
Brutal.
Daniel saw nothing for a second.
Then:
red.
His hand went straight to his face.
Blood.
A lot.
The claw had passed from above the eyebrow towards the side of his face.
Daniel tried to open the eye.
He could not.
Blood was getting between his eyelids.
“DANIEL!”
He did not know who had shouted.
The Alpha struck.
Daniel barely raised his arm.
The impact threw him against a rock.
His head struck it.
This time the world disappeared.
Sound.
Distant.
Water.
Someone shouting.
Daniel opened one eye.
Not the other.
Everything was tilted.
One side of his face hot.
Blood running down from his forehead.
Over the eyebrow.
Over the cheek.
To his mouth.
He tried to move his left arm.
Nothing.
Pain.
He tried to get up with the right.
His hand slipped.
He fell.
“Daniel!”
Very far away.
Xenya.
Perhaps.
He was not sure.
The Alpha was walking towards him.
Slowly.
She was not looking at anyone else.
At him.
Only him.
“We have to get him out!” Xenya shouted.
Vega tried to stand.
Her leg immediately gave way.
Melisa caught her.
“No!”
“Xenya…”
Vega breathed.
“Don’t go in alone.”
“He’s dying!”
“I know.”
Xenya looked at Alyra.
“Help me.”
Alyra tried to stand.
Her legs were trembling.
“I don’t have…”
She looked at the water.
Tried to move it.
A small current responded.
Fell immediately.
Alyra closed her eyes.
“I don’t have enough.”
Iskander dragged a knee beneath his body.
“I…”
Alyra caught him.
“No.”
“I can…”
He tried to stand.
Fell.
The shield was far away.
Iskander struck the ground.
“Fuck!”
Serrano raised the A.R.E.
Nothing.
Again.
A spark of Ignis.
It died.
Serrano lowered his head.
Melisa looked at Daniel.
Then at Vega.
At Serrano.
Iskander.
Alyra.
Xenya.
They had all given everything.
And Daniel was alone.
Daniel braced his hand.
Earth.
Mud.
Blood.
He pushed.
His body rose a few centimetres.
Fell.
He breathed.
Not enough air was getting in.
Again.
Hand.
Knee.
He pushed.
The world spun.
He fell onto his side.
The Alpha was still approaching.
“No…”
Daniel did not know whether he had said it.
Perhaps he had only thought it.
A light.
White.
A ceiling.
No.
A hall.
A curtain moving.
“Daniel.”
Another voice.
He did not know when it was from.
Rubble.
A girl beneath.
Clara.
The Alpha.
A screen.
0
“Daniel!”
Darian.
The ground.
Pain.
A hand.
Armando.
The ground.
Again.
“Get up.”
Daniel blinked.
The Alpha.
Only the Alpha.
He tried to get up.
One knee.
His right arm trembling.
The left hanging.
Blood covering part of his face.
One eye closed.
The other barely focused.
The Alpha stopped.
Daniel heard something.
Very low.
He thought it was his breathing.
No.
Zzzzzzz—
Daniel raised his head slightly.
The forest lost definition.
“Daniel!”
Far away.
Very far away.
The Alpha.
Everything else began to disappear.
The forest grew distant.
The Alpha did not.
CUT TO BLACK.
END OF EPISODE 21 — LIMIT